


Skywalker Ranch

by ArcherHybrid



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-18 07:21:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13676955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArcherHybrid/pseuds/ArcherHybrid
Summary: After years of being away from camp, Kylo is back, and as a first time counselor, Rey isn't took sure about this





	Skywalker Ranch

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ursaminors](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ursaminors/gifts).



_“Sometimes friends make mistakes. Grievous ones that cry out for us to stay and prove we are true friends.” -Beth Bernobich_

_._

_.._

_After a long, twelve-hour shift – which should have only lasted ten hours, but then some guy just_ had _to try killing his wife in the last half hour, which meant more drawn out report writing, which lead to more of a headache than he already had – at least two energy drinks and three Advil, Officer Skywalker finally pulls his patrol vehicle into the driveway. As he’s gathering his things, he looks over the neon numbers blinking on his radio and already knows he’s late._

_Rey Kenobi is watching out the window, waiting ever patiently and occasionally flicking a gander at the watch on her wrist. He was late. Maybe she should have just gotten that taxi instead. Her packed bags are already at the door. When she sees the patrol car in the driveway, she jumps to her feet, grabs her bags, throws open the front door, and starts racing down the driveway._

_Luke doesn’t even turn off the engine. He starts spotting apologizes when he steps out and Rey should be upset but she schools her features well; she should know by now that her foster father’s work schedule had a habit of always going off kilter._

Rey searches her rucksack for her MP3 player. She unravels the headphones, slips once bud into each ear, and begins scrolling through her playlists until she settles on one. She also ruffles through the rucksack until she finds paperwork from Skywalker Ranch – she was hired as a counselor for the summer; her first time here; her foster aunt had gotten her the job. As the taxi driver takes a left hand turn out of the airport parking lot, Rey is settling back in her seat, listening to Five Finger Death Punch and scanning over the entire job description.

_They arrived at the airport with less than forty-five minutes to spare; if not for already checking her bags, Rey would have been late for her flight. She didn’t like being late for anything, not if she could help it. Despite the rush she was in, she did leave a second or two to give her farewells to Luke, a brief kiss on the cheek, and a promise she’d call him as soon as she was settled at camp._

Rey is jolted awake when they hit a pot hole. She notices the gate of Skywalker Ranch as the taxi drives up over the hill. She stares out the window as the taxi drives up. As it rolls to a stop, Rey gathers her things and shoves her MP3 player inside the pocket of her jacket. After the taxi driver pops his truck – he asks Rey is she could use some assistance getting her bags; she declines – she climbs out of the bag seat and around the back of the vehicle.

Before she reaches for them, Rey is taken aback when a six-foot three man with wavy coal black hair starts walking towards her. She immediately is torn between shock and anger, but it is anger that passes over her face. She wants to start yelling at him, to demand what he’s doing here, but her mouth ends up giving the best impression of a fish out of water when he retrieves her bags from the taxi truck for her; and he never once did not maintain eye contact.

He rummaged through his pocket for money to pay the taxi driver, even though Rey already had her wallet in her hand; she growled a bit beneath her breath when he came back, “I had that you know,” she says, clearly upset yet never actually raising her voice.

“Oh, I know,” he says in such a tone that for some reason sends chills down her spine. “Come,” and he lifts both of her bags with ease, then turns towards the consoler cabin, “let’s get you settled.”

..

..

Ahch-To, a small village hidden deep within Cork, Ireland was exactly eight hours ahead of where she was in Nicasio, California, but Rey still sat down in front of her computer – a Lenovo Yoga 920 13.9” Rebel Alliance edition she received for Christmas – and dialed up Luke on Skype. She waited, patiently, for him to answer.

It was nighttime there, and he was enjoying himself a cold one.

_“You were supposed to call me the second you landed,”_ he said, sounding just on the edge of disappointed and stern, but his expression might have portrayed the exact opposite.

Rey looked sad for a second; “I know, sir,” she said, her tone apologetic.

_“Did you get settled in okay?”_

“Yes…”

_“You sound distracted. Is everything good?”_

“…Ben is here.”

What follows would be an expression dissolving from surprise, to shock, to anger, and finally disappointment. It had been a while since Luke so much as saw his nephew, much less heard his name. _“I thought—”_

“…that he was still in rehab?”

To be fair, Luke hadn’t spoken to his sister in some time, so he was so out of sync with what was going on with his nephew; Ben had been standing in front of a judge, his hands cuffed in front of him, when Luke last saw or spoke to him, and Leia as well. That was at least three years ago.

..

..

It’s early in the morning, maybe six o’clock or so, and Rey is outside in a pair of CALIA women’s warm printed wintry weather tights, a dark green flow keyhole detail heather tank top, a plum effortless dipdye hoodie pulled taunt over her tank top, and a pair of size seven purple and grey ghost 10 running shoes that perfectly matched her wintry weather tights. And of course, she also remembered her MP3 player. Her running playlist was already geared up.

Rey took off with no set direction in mind; she just enjoyed the sound her feet made as it contacted the asphalt. Skywalker Ranch was far from most civilization, some would argue it was in the middle of nowhere and on some level, they might be right. But she was used to living so isolated from everything and everyone. She didn’t mind being around people – because, if she didn’t, then why bother with this job? – but occasionally, it was nice to be reminded of the peaceful seclusion of farm land.

And at least out here, Rey could think. She didn’t have to worry about anything else for the moment. Worry was back home in Ireland. Worry was that police department application still sitting on her desk and only half of it filled out. Something about that was holding her back; maybe it was nerves. Worry was the last two classes she needed to complete her Criminal Justice degree and the unfortunate part of losing her scholarship which meant she’d have to pay out of pocket for the rest yet not having the money for it.

This summer job she took as a counselor was supposed to help with that. She could have asked Luke for the money, but she’d never did that; Rey liked being independent. If she could be living on her own, she probably would have. But she is grateful that Luke still provides a roof over her head.

Rey tells her mind to stop processing anything of the sort as soon as she hits the corner where isolation meets civilization. There, while she is waiting for traffic, she stretches. There are other people around her, though not many, but she pays them very little attention. It’s the music that still draws her in. Once she finishes her stretching, Rey continues to wait patiently at the corner until she is sure she can pass. Or, so she believes. It looked clear anyway. To her.

In all fairness, she should have unplugged her earphones before stepping out. But she hadn’t. Nor had she seen the car. The horn was blaring. Before either had appropriate time to react, Rey felt a harsh tugging on the back of her hoodie. She could have fallen backwards onto her bum had it not been for the arms that caught her. When Rey looks behind her after straightening herself, she sees Ben Solo towering over her. At first, she snarls; her face has literally contorted into such an expression; but then he is standing back with his hands up in surrender.

“Hey, I was just preventing you from getting hit,” he says to her, “I could have _not_ pulled you back.”

Rey presses pause on her music; “I wouldn’t have put it past you,” she says, her tone dripping with harshness. She completely dismisses the pointed frown on his face.

“You should be paying more attention to your surroundings, love. That’s what they say in your neck of the woods isn’t it?”

“Don’t call me that! I’m not your love.”

“For someone who just saved your life, you’re being highly ungrateful right now.”

“Are you waiting for a thank you?”

“Well, yeah.” Ben almost broke into full laughter. “That’s usually what follows when someone does something nice for someone else…. Like preventing them from getting hit by a car…”

Rey begrudgingly grumbled out a _thank you_.

“There. Was that so difficult?”

“Yes, actually. In fact, what are you even doing here—” she gave pause, and then added, “—and don’t say preventing me from getting hit by a car—” and she could see him changing his speech tactic, because she’s pretty sure he was about to say that, or something like that. “I mean, what are you doing _here_ , at Skywalker Ranch? After what you did, I’m surprised they even let you out of your cage.”

Ben almost looked defeated, but he composed his feelings. “I _did_ my time, Rey. That should be enough for you.”

“It’s not.”

“Oh, well…. I’m sorry you feel that way…”

“You’re sorry?” Rey looked angry. “Sorry isn’t going to erase what happened. You’re the one who chose to get caught up in drugs. No one forced your hand. Everyone begged you to walk away—even your father…” That one hurt. “…but you didn’t listen. To any of us. And because of you, Han Solo is de—”

“—you don’t have to remind me, Rey,” Ben wasn’t hiding his depressed look this time, “but there’s a lot about that night that you don’t even realize…”

“I really don’t care.”

She starts running again.

..

..

They didn’t say much to each other over the next few weeks; maybe the occasional word at breakfast and verifying all the campers were tucked into their bunks, but Kylo and Rey kept to themselves, even when mingling with other camp counselors in the common room.

Forced interaction was the only kind they ever did. They kept things civil.

But even though neither of them spoke to each other much, they did observe what the other was doing. For instance, if Rey was playing volleyball with some of the girls, Kylo would pause on his way to the basketball court so he could watch. Or when she took some willing participants horseback riding, he’d sometimes go with despite not being much of an equestrian.

The kids seemed to like him just fine. This surprised Rey; she just assumed he was going to be horrible, given his track record – pun not intended.

It is late a night, in the second week of August, and the children are all sound asleep, that she finds him sitting alone in the common room; either the other counselors had already turned in for the night, or they had better things to do. There he was. All alone. Sitting in a lounge chair, drinking a beer. She observed him for several minutes before he became aware of her presence, and all he did was stare at her. Considering their lack of social interaction over these last few weeks, Kylo half expected her to turn tail. When Rey didn’t leave, he mutely reached into a cooler to his left, grabbed a Blue Moon, popped the top open, and extended it out for her to take.

She wondered if she should. The pair exchanged looks but he never once faltered in his expression. Wordlessly, Rey took the offered beer and plopped down in a lounge chair opposite Kylo. It felt good to kick back after a particularly brutally sweltering day; the common room was quite cool, and the chilled beer helped.

After a sip from his beer, Kylo said; “I know you hate me.” It was blunt, yes, but to the point, and it got her to look him in the eye for once.

“I don’t hate you.”

He scoffed; it almost took her aback. “Yes, you do. You’ve been avoiding me for over a month now. Unless we’re forced into circumstances where we have to interact then I know you don’t want to.”

“Okay, well, I can’t say I’m thrilled to see you,” Rey admitted, “considering the last time we really spoke, I was still in school and you—well, you were being carted off to jail.” Oh, and she remembered that night too, because she had to hear about it when Leia came to pick her up from Finn’s house instead of Mister Luke. And she remembered crying about it the whole way home.

Kylo visibly grimaced. “Not a day goes by that I don’t think about that night…” And to pour salt into the wound, he’s been having dreams about his dad ever since that night. It pained him still. Even now when he closes his eyes, and he still hears that gun shot, and then his dad laying dead in the road; Kylo may not have been the one to pull the trigger, but he still blames himself. When his eyes open, a single tear is seen falling down his face. He looks away momentarily, exhaling softly. “If I hadn’t gotten mixed up in drugs to begin with, none of this would have happened. And nothing I can do will ever bring Han back.”

He and his dad never did have the best of relationships; Han was always leaving to go do something, and Kylo, even as a young boy, would always be left to comfort his mom. It killed him to see her in pain whenever his dad walked out that door. In a way, he was glad when they finally split.

When Kylo started experimenting with drugs, it was Leia first who tried reaching out for help. Luke was barely able to be around, Holdo was deployed. Even though he and his son hardly spoke, it was Han who eventually tried to reason with Kylo. Of course, the young man wanted nothing to do with any of it. He wouldn’t listen to anyone, despite them telling him what kind of path he was going down.

In the end, it was Han’s death at the hands of Kylo’s own dealer that finally made the young man hit rock bottom. Instead of a long jail sentence, he was issued court ordered rehab. While spending it getting clean, he also used that time for self-reflection and working to forgive himself. He wished he could know if his dad forgave him. Sometimes he wondered if anyone else did.

After Kylo took another sip from his beer, and things fell silent between them, there was a knock on the door, and the door opened just as Kylo and Rey both looked towards it.

It was one of the campers; “Mister Kylo, sir,” the young boy said, his voice choked up with tears, “I had a bad dream, and I can’t find anyone else, and I don’t wanna wake anyone and—”

Kylo put his beer down on the coffee table between himself and Rey, stood up, walked over to the kid, and scooped him up into his arms. He allowed the kid to rest his head on his shoulder.

“Hey, Kylo?” He looked over his shoulder at Rey. “I think…I think we should talk…. when you get back…” She smiled, to indicate she meant this in an agreeable way.

Kylo nodded. But before he patched up that boo-boo, he had to deal with a more innocent one.

**Author's Note:**

> So I’m just going to come out and say this before I start: I don’t typically write AU stories. To say this is out of my comfort zone would be an understatement. That being said, this is for the Reylo Valentine’s Day Fic Exchange and I DID make a commitment. Come hell or high water, I will power through. I have a general idea of how I want to execute this but writing the words might be difficult. Hopefully this satisfies the person who requested this. If not, then I’m sorry! Don’t shoot me with a blaster!  
> Also, I am a HUGE procrastinator! I didn’t even start writing this until a few days before it was due. Again, I apologize. I honestly believe I just need someone to hold my feet to the fire and force me to finish something I start, lol


End file.
